By: Natasha Archary
When last did you buy a newspaper or magazine?
Gugulethu Mfuphi reflected on how much has changed in the South African print media industry over the past 12-months, noting the reports that Media24 will be closing 4 publications including the Daily Sun due to low circulation figures.
The global economic crisis, Covid-19 and a slow recovery thereafter, has meant that print media is dying.
Media24 will reportedly be closing 4 of its print publications in October, including Daily Sun, Beeld, Rapport and City Press.
This according to a report by Moneyweb which cites four sources have confirmed the media house’s decision to shut down some of its mainstream publications.
In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Media24 considered the closure of 5 magazines and 2 newspapers.
A total of 510 positions were impacted and the company consolidated several positions in a long-term restructuring process.
With the age of artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the digital landscapes, Styli Charalambous, CEO of the Daily Maverick shares how online has changed the way people consume news and information.
“The last few years has been really tough on the print industry, and it continues to see significant declines across the board, so in a sense the writing was on the wall that a few more titles would be closing down, or moving to digital only publications.
Some of these titles at Media24 will be moving to digital only. It is tough, there are sectors around the world where print is seeing a little bit of growth in becoming a ‘coffee table’ book sort of operation but those are in different and more developed markets where the economy is stronger and has the ability to pay for print titles.
In South Africa, we struggled with a flagging economy as well as the impact of Covid-19 which was much harder felt here than in more developed countries.”
Charalambous says publications in the country have had to cut costs and downscale operations. While the digital space shows promises of growth, the sad reality is that even with that growth in the digital space, making that sustainable in a digital format is much harder.
Even if publications grow in numbers in the digital space, converting those numbers into revenue is no easy feat.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Biz:
Also read: Car repossession: Understanding your rights
